From a political standpoint there's a lot more going on in the PT. But that kind of intrigue isn't really what put the OT over back in '77 - '83. There were pretty clearly drawn lines of who was good and who was bad in the OT, to the point where the look of the Imperials was deliberately done in order to made them look like space Nazis. So in that respect the story of the PT is more sophisticated, but the dialogue (like in the OT) wasn't all that strong in order to convey all of that.

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One thing that I think get overlooked in the whole PT vs OT debate is the music. I was watching the Family Guy parody episodes the other day in which they use the original score in the show. John Williams was at his absolute best in Empire I think. From the Hoth Battle to the Imperial March to Yoda's Theme to Han and Leia's Love theme to the whole Cloud City stuff. It really is great.

The PT has some really good stuff too: Duel of the Fates, Anakin and Padme's Love theme, the Anakin v Obi-Wan song. But the score greatest isn't sustained at all and in some cases Ben Burtt butchered the hell out of the editing so bad that it doesn't even make sense. Williams in general has declined since the early 80's...

You could probably go down the line of lots of aspects of the two trilogies and rate them across the board: effects, score, editing, costumes, acting, directing, plot etc etc but in the end I hate PT vs OT arguements because it is sort of like Liberals vs Conservatives, you'll never win an arguement in trying to convince people they are wrong.

I agree the score for the PT isn't very inspiring. There are some hits, like the one you mentioned, Scott, but overall they (I don't know who made the decision) reused the same theme for both the droids and clones, which just is disappointing.

Very good points on the score. And it's funny that you mention Ben Burtt and the music editing. I explicitly recall some behind the scenes video as they were putting the sound mix together for one of the PT films, and in on the mix is the guy who had done the score mixes for the OT films. George still has him in on this part of the process. But IIRC he was arguing with Ben Burtt about score mix issues.

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The whole Ben Burtt thing was slammed home to me in the Obi vs Jango space battle above Geonosis. There is no music at all and all sound effects. He pretty much ruled everything on how the sound mix was done and effects and lame ass sounds overruled a lot of the music. The OT was not that way at all, in fact in the awesome Making of Star Wars book from a few years back, he whined a lot that his sound effects were relegated to background then. He was the douche who ****** around with the sound on the original DVD releases and totally screwed the score on that too...

Excellent point. Ben Burtt was so in love with that sonic mine sound that the absence of the score does make the Geonosis space battle does suffer. If you look at the asteroid field chase in TESB in comparison, the score really makes that sequence pop.

« Last Edit: February 22, 2012, 12:20 PM by Nicklab »

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As a 40-year-old fan who grew up with the originals, I actually prefer watching the prequels - for many of the reasons listed in the article. I love the political intrigue, the maneuvering and machinations of Palpatine, and the eventual triumph of the Sith in the third installment. If I remember correctly, Kevin Smith expressed it succintly: watching the prequels is like watching a trainwreck. The originals show us the crew trying to clean up the wreck and repair the track; but the prequels show us the events leading up to the wreck, and they show us the massive wreck itself. Now, that doesn't mean that I think the prequels are better. Not at all. For me, the originals have a more solid and resonating feel to them; they are more "organic" than the prequels, and the characters feel a lot more "relatable" (I don't know about you, but I can relate a whole lot better to the daydreaming farmboy than I can to the monastic warrior, or to the politician.) And there is something a little "cold" about the prequels. Perhaps it has a lot to do with the presentation of such a clean and politically complex galaxy, seen at its apex. And, of course, people bitch about the acting and the dialogue. But when I watch the prequels, I don't see bad acting - I see Christensen and Portman portraying awkward characters: a repressed teenager in over his head, and a depressed politician dreaming of a simpler life - and both are romantic neophytes. My wife hates to watch Christensen because of his acting. But when I watch Attack of the Clones, I don't see bad acting, I see an awkward character. To be fair, I'm not sure that that was Christensen's intention, but that's how I see it nonetheless.

So, if I get the itch to sit down and watch a Star Wars movie, invariably, my hand grabs a prequel. As awesome and classic as the originals are, nothing gets my blood flowing like watching Anakin massacre the Separatist Council, or watching Yoda duke it out with Sidious. It's not that I don't love the originals; it's just that I like watching the prequels more.

I can go to ROTS any time pretty easily as well... As easily as any OT film, but to the article's point, that's (for me) one film of 3 that fits in with the level of quality of the original 3... That's a bad record.

I can't watch AOTC and TPM as readily anymore... AOTC a bit more easily, but TPM I find myself shutting off anymore. It's a dismal failure of a film to me. Select parts can make me happy, but not the whole.

AOTC, I'm much more into the 2nd half than the first... Kamino onward maybe. The rest, leave it. The warrin' always gets me.

ROTS I'm a start to finish guy... I loved it first time I saw it and have ever since. Sucks the Vader "Nooooooooo" is there, but I can hack it. It's a good movie. It's the trainwreck.

I've always agreed with the idea championed here often that AOTC should've been where the new films started though.

So for what the article states, I agree with it that the PT is a much more flawed series of films compared to the OT, as far as entertainment goes. ROTS is the "trainwreck" though and I'll forever love it too. 4 films I can go watch, at any point, and 2 I'll flick back and forth with. I think the Clone Wars toon movie is superior to AOTC and TPM at this point.

I'm in pretty much the same camp. I really WANT to like TPM, but I just can't do it. I watched both TPM and AOTC recently with my kids and just about fell asleep during the pod race scene. Outside of the lightsaber duel, there's nothing here of interest. When it first came out, I remember wondering all about Palpatine (is he the same guy? a clone? ), but once you know that, most everything else is filler.

AOTC starts off slow as well with a similar pace. It starts picking up when Obi-Wan faces off against Jango, so the last half is fun to watch. ROTS is solid throughout, though I've probably seen that one the least.

I have no problem with someone thinking that Episodes I-III are better than the originals. In my opinion, I found the story arc of the prequels better than the originals, but the originals were better as standalone movies. Episode III is (so far) my favorite movie of all time.

To me, Star Wars should be like a buffet table. You take what you like, and you leave what you don't. If you like all six films, great. If you only like some of them, that is fine, too. If you want to read books, there are dozens of those. If you don't want to touch any EU material, that is fine, too.

As long as you aren't putting down someone for what they like (trolling), it is fine.

(Although, he does use the Darth Maul quote, "Fear is my ally," which isn't actually spoken in the movie...but oh well).